''Victorlemoinea'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

litoptern Litopterna (from grc, λῑτή πτέρνα "smooth heel") is an extinct order of fossil hoofed mammals from the Cenozoic era. The order is one of the five great orders of South American ungulates that were endemic to the continent, until th ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of the family Sparnotheriodontidae, that lived from the Early to Middle Eocene. Fossils of ''Victorlemoinea'' have been found in the Las Flores,

Sarmiento Sarmiento may refer to: Places Argentina *Sarmiento Department, San Juan, a subdivision of the San Juan Province *Sarmiento Department, Santiago del Estero, a subdivision of the Santiago del Estero Province *Sarmiento Department, Chubut, a subdivi ...

and Koluel Kaike Formations of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, the

Itaboraí Formation The Itaboraí Formation ( pt, Formação Itaboraí) is a highly list of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Brazil, fossiliferous geologic Formation (geology), formation and LagerstätteKellner & Campos, 1999, p.399 of the Itaboraí Basin in Rio ...

of Brazil and

La Meseta Formation The La Meseta Formation is a sedimentary sequence deposited during the Eocene. The formation is found on Seymour Island, Antarctica. Description La Meseta Formation lies unconformably on the Cretaceous Lopez de Bertodano Formation. It is an app ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

.''Victorlemoinea''
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks is a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals ...

.org

Description

''Victorlemoinea'' was a medium-sized litoptern. '' Sparnotheriodon'', ''Victorlemoinea'', and one species of ''

Notiolofos ''Notiolofos'' is an extinct genus of sparnotheriodontid ungulate from the order Litopterna. The animal lived during the Eocene, in modern-day Antarctica. The genus contains two species, ''N. arquinotiensis'', the type species, and ''N. regueroi ...

'', ''N. arquinotiensis'', have been estimated to have had masses of roughly , whereas another species of ''Notiolofos'', ''N. regueroi'', was smaller, with a body mass estimated to have been between 25 and 58 kg, making them one of the largest litopterns of the Paleogene. Litopterns would not retain such sizes again until the Miocene.

Taxonomy

This animal is considered a member of the family Sparnotheriodontidae and is said to share some features with the mammal family Didolodontidae. Fossils referable to the genus have been found on

Seymour Island Seymour Island or Marambio Island, is an island in the chain of 16 major islands around the tip of the Graham Land on the Antarctic Peninsula. Graham Land is the closest part of Antarctica to South America. It lies within the section of the isla ...

, Antarctica. ''Victorlemoinea'' was first named by

Florentino Ameghino Florentino Ameghino (born Giovanni Battista Fiorino Giuseppe Ameghino September 19, 1853 – August 6, 1911) was an Argentine naturalist, paleontologist, anthropologist and zoologist, whose fossil discoveries on the Argentine Pampas, especially ...

in 1901 on the basis of a mandible and teeth from the Sarmiento Formation of Argentina, with the type species being ''Victorlemoinea labyrinthica''. In 1952,

Carlos de Paula Couto Carlos de Paula Couto, (Porto Alegre, August 30, 1910 – November 15, 1982) was a Brazilian paleontologist. Biography Paula Couto was a researcher at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, specialized in paleontology of mammals. ...

named a new species of ''Victorlemoinea'' from the Itaboraí Formation of Brazil, ''V. prototypica''. In 1983,

Richard Cifelli Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

tentatively synonymized ''Sparnotheriodon'' with ''Victorlemoinea'', however, many other authors view the former as distinct. The following cladogram is based on Chimento & Agnolin, 2020, showing the position of ''Victorlemoinea''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7927436 Condylarths Sparnotheriodontids Eocene mammals of South America Itaboraian Casamayoran Mustersan Divisaderan Paleogene Argentina Fossils of Argentina Paleogene Brazil Fossils of Brazil Cenozoic mammals of Antarctica Paleogene Antarctica Fossils of Antarctica Fossil taxa described in 1901 Taxa named by Florentino Ameghino Prehistoric placental genera Golfo San Jorge Basin Itaboraí Formation Sarmiento Formation